Celebrating the life of Elma Lee McFall

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Obituary for Elma Lee McFall

Elma Lee McFall, who lived most of her life in DeKalb County, and whose occupation of professional nursing and avocation of horses spanned four decades, died from Lewy Body Dementia at The Montclair Personal Care Home in Decatur on November 21, 2017. She was 74.

Lee was preceded in death by her parents, Robert M. McFall and Elma G. McFall, and her second husband, Richard H. Rhodes. Her sister, Angela McFall Patterson, and brother-in-law, Sherrod G. Patterson, both of Decatur, survive her.

Lee attended Oak Grove United Methodist Church in Decatur where she was a member of the New Vision Sunday School Class and whose members will serve as honorary pallbearers at her funeral service to be held at Oak Grove UMC in the Main Sanctuary on Friday, December 8th, at 11:00 am, with visitation for family and friends beginning at 10:00 am in the Grand Hall of the church. Lee will be interred with her mother, and a burial service will be held, on Tuesday, December 12th at 10:30 a.m. in the Chapel of Saint Barnabas Anglican Church in Dunwoody.

Lee wanted to be a registered nurse from an early age, and her preparation for her long career in the medical field began as a Candy Striper at Egleston Children's Hospital and as State President of the Future Nurses' Club of Georgia while a senior at Decatur High School from which she graduated in 1961. Her formal nursing education and training began at Georgia Baptist School of Nursing in Atlanta where she received a diploma in 1964. She later received a BSN in Nursing and an MSN in Nursing Administration from the Medical College of Georgia and the Emory University Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, respectively.

Lee worked as a registered nurse at Georgia Baptist Hospital, Emory University Hospital, and DeKalb General Hospital before beginning her long tenure at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center where she worked in positions of increasing responsibility in several programs and departments before her retirement. While employed by the VA, she joined and served briefly as a Flight Nurse with the United States Air Force Reserve.

Although Lee was most passionate about her nursing career, horses and horseback riding, showing, and competition were a close second. Accommodated by and after the completion of her 6AM-2PM shift at the VA, and, later, her retirement, Lee was on the road in her pickup truck to stables in North Fulton, Gwinnett, or Walton Counties where her best-four-legged-friends "Dee", "Pebbles", "Joy", or "Sherman" and close friends and fellow equestrians Barbara Handley, Sue Figg, and Carolyn Orem, among others, stood by for late afternoon and early evening rides and weekend instruction, shows, competitions, and stall mucking.

After Lee's retirement from the VA and regular equestrian activities, she and other members of the United Methodist Women Fidelis Circle at Oak Grove UMC, at Lee's suggestion, provided foot care to residents of the Mountain View Personal Care Home in Decatur as a service project, which continues today. Lee also participated in several other activities, programs, and ministries at Oak Grove UMC, including the UMW Outreach Circle and the Altar Guild.

Lee's family extends a heartfelt thanks to the staff of The Montclair for their excellent and loving care of and attention given Lee throughout her two years of residence there.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Lee's memory to Oak Grove UMC, Saint Barnabas Anglican Church, the Mountain View Personal Care Home, or a charity of choice.

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